Friday, January 23, 2009

MOSS/WSS3.0 DISASTER RECOVERY STEPS

From File system backup following:
1.C:\inetpub\wwwroot
2.C:\windows\assembly
3.C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file
4.C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\
5.C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint\
6.C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0 (Not Applicable in WSS3.0)
(If you are using any custom locations instead of above default locations please backup them.)

From Registry Editor backup following:
1. 1.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Secure
2.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0

Back Up IIS Metabase (IIS 6.0) using following steps:
To create a non-portable backup (password not required)
1.
In IIS Manager, right-click the local computer, click All Tasks, and click Backup/Restore Configuration.
2.
Click Create Backup.
3.
In the Configuration backup name box, type a name for the backup file.
4.
Click OK, and then click Close.
The IIS metabase is created in the systemroot\system32\inetsrv\MetaBack folder.

Back up Central Administration Configured Settings:
1. In Central Administration,
2. Here is the following links that need to be documented(screenshot) to have a
backup of your configuration

a. Operations
i. Outgoing e-mail settings
ii. Incoming e-mail settings
iii. Approve/reject distribution groups
iv. Master site directory settings
v. Alternate access mappings
vi. Solution Management
vii. Services on Server (for each server)

b. Application Management
i. Define managed paths
ii. Web Application outgoing e-mail settings
iii. Web application general settings
iv. Content Databases
v. Web Application list
vi. Records center
vii. Manage form templates
viii. Configure InfoPath Forms Services
ix. Manage data connection files
x. Manage the Web service proxy
xi. Create or configure this farm’s shared services
xii. Grant or configure shared services between farms
xiii. Configure session state
xiv. Security for Web Part pages
xv. Self-service site management
xvi. User permissions for Web application
xvii. Policy for Web application
xviii. Authentication providers
xix. Manage Search service
xx. Workflow settings

c. Shared Services Administration (Not Applicable in WSS3.0)
i. In each SSP, document the following
1. User profiles and properties
2. Profile services policies
3. My Site settings
4. Trusted My Site host locations
5. Published links to Office client applications
6. Personalization site links
7. Personalization services permissions
8. Search settings
9. Search usage reports
10. Edit Excel Services settings
11. Trusted file locations
12. Trusted data connection libraries
13. Trusted data providers
14. User-defined function assemblies
15. Audiences
16. Usage Reporting
17. Import application definition
18. View applications
19. View entities
20. Business Data Catalog permissions
21. Edit profile page template

3. Next we will need to have you take a backup using the Central Administration site
a. In the Operations tab, click on Perform a Backup
b. Check the box next to Farm, click on Continue to Backup Options
c. Be sure that Full is selected
d. Enter in a share for the backup to be placed in that folder
i. Note: The MOSS service account needs full control for the Share, as well as
the NTFS permissions.
e. Click OK
i. It will take a few minutes before the backup is started.

Full Farm Backup using command prompt:
stsadm -o backup -directory -backupmethod full

To backup individual site collections:
Open a command prompt
Cd “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN”
stsadm -o backup -url -filename -overwrite

Backup all SharePoint Databases from SQL Server Management Studio:
1. Configuration database (Configuration database name can be found from Central admin>Operations>Topology and Services>Servers in Farm)
2. Content Databases (We can find the association of the web application and Content database from Central administration>Application Management>Content Database>On right hand side we need to select drop down list>change web application & we need to select a web application for which the Content database will be listed below.)
3. WSS_Search Database (WSS Search database name can be found from Central admin>Operations>Topology and Services>Services on server>Click on Windows SharePoint Services Search>Search Database>Database Name)
4. Shared Services DB Databases (Not Applicable in WSS3.0)
5. Shared Services SEARCH Databases (Not Applicable in WSS3.0)
6. Any other databases related to Product integrated with SharePoint (For example: SQL Reporting Services, Project Server etc)

4.Disconnecting from existing Configuration Database & creating a new Configuration Database:
This will cause loss of following:

1. Central admin configured settings (Need to be reentered from screenshots taken earlier)
2. Any solutions deployed in farm (Need to read & redeploy)
3. 3rd party web parts or templates (Need to reinstall)
4. Integration with other products (Need to reconfigure)

5. After the backup finishes successfully, run SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration from each server(one at a time)
a. Click next; click Yes
b. Select Disconnect from this server farm; click Next

6. Creating a new configuration database;
run the SharePoint Products and
Technologies Configuration from the server that will be hosting Central
Administration.
a. Click Next; Click Yes
b. Select No, I want to create a new server farm
c. Type in Database server
d. Make sure the Database name is unique(This will be the name of your
configuration database)
e. Enter in your username and password
f. Click next
g. Specify a port(optional)
h. Click Next; Click Next

7. Connect other servers up to the farm; run SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration from the other servers one at a time
a. Click Next; click Yes
b. Make sure Yes, I want to connect to an existing server farm is selected; click
Next
c. Enter in the database server name; Click Retrieve Database Names
d. Select the database that you just created for Database name
e. Type in the password for the service account
f. Click Next 3 times

8. Start the services in the Central Administration -> Operations -> Services on server
a. Start the services that were documented in the previous steps for each server
b. Make sure the services are in the Started status, not Starting

9. Restoring from backup; Central Administration -> Operations -> Restore from backup
a. Specify the location of the backup; click OK
b. Select the backup that was taken in the previous steps; Click Continue the
Restore Process
c. Check the box next to Farm; Click Continue the Restore Process
d. Select New Configuration
i. NOTE: DO NOT USE SAME CONFIGURATION
e. Complete the forms with the correct information about database names/servers
and service account usernames/passwords
f. Click OK
i. The Restore process will take a few minutes to start.

10. If above restore Operation does not work try one of following:

A. For catastrophic restore
stsadm -o restore -directory -restoremethod

B. For site collection restore
stsadm -o restore -url -filename [-hostheaderwebapplicationurl] -overwrite

C. Create new web application & use stsadm -o addcontentdb to attach original content database
stsadm.exe -o addcontentdb -url -databaseserver -databasename

Restoring On the same server:
Since Configuration Database is same & all the files are in place, most of the sites work without problem.
If New Configuration Database is created on same server then follow instructions below

Restoring On new server:
1.Since we need to create a new configuation database & all required files are not present, We need to copy the contents of backed up folders partially or fully to the new server.
2.We also need to redeploy the lost settings mentioned in step 4 above,
3.SSL certificates needs to be assigned again.
4.Host/CNAME records in DNS needs to be updated to point to new Server.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

parmi/dominic
thanks for making things easy for me.

Anonymous said...

Are these all necessary for making the backup or we can just backup using the stsadm only? Thanks in advance.

SharePointSD said...

If you have OOB site, stsadm -o backup is sufficient but if you have customizations/3rd party templates/web parts you need everything mentioned above.

Anonymous said...

I see you have a very good view on all vital components. Although not related to disaster recovery, do you happen to understand the need/difference of index files in folder and a WSS_Search database (this is pure WSS 3.0).
Many thanks
Erwin
erwin.reyns@getronics.com

SharePointSD said...

I understand what you mean to say here, restoring the indexes & getting search working without waiting for crawls is obviously an advantage, however I am not providing solution to experts (like you)through this blogs so I only mentioned simple steps. For complications Microsoft has very good technicians :-)

Anonymous said...

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Nicole said...

thanks!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tutorial! Sharepoint is really on way to retrieve lost files. It has been tested and proven by most people. This is what a server support must be, a trustworthy unit that can handle major disasters in the system.

Unknown said...

Hmm.......nice sharing it's really informative as well as useful info. thanks

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